The Anniversary
by Xx-PseudoPsycho-xX
Summary: The apocalypse has arrived and done its damage, turning the Nine Realms into places of hell, with people turned into bloodthirsty monsters. When Bucky and several others get separated from a group of survivors, they must fight to get to safety, or end up infected. Zombie AU with some Bucky/Loki


**This fic is for grace-for-sales 666 challenge on tumblr. I used the prompt "They're all dead, they just don't know it yet."**

 **Quick warning, this fic is dark and contains violence and major death.**

 **Now that that's out of the way, hope you guys enjoy!**

* * *

I hit the ground face first, groaning at the impact. I lifted my head up, and spots danced before my eyes. I caught sight of my machine gun lying on its side an arms-length away.

It was the sound of moans and wails that made me come to my senses and push myself up off the ground, grabbing my gun as I did so. I was just in time to see the jeep I had been riding in just moments before, vanish into the distance.

"Shit!" I shouted, starting to run after it. I quickly realized that what I was doing was useless; there was no way I could catch up to it.

I looked over my shoulder, towards the forest, where the Godforsaken noises were coming from.

I broke into another run, panicking. There was nowhere for me to go, and the horde behind me was, judging by the sound of it, too large for me to fight off.

Damn it. I was going to die.

I became aware of the engine of a car, coming from my left. I stopped running and looked around. I made out the shape of a car in the distance, heading right towards me at a dangerous speed.

I started to run to it, but then I realized that wasn't the brightest idea, as the car was almost about to crash into me. I quickly ran out of the way, and as I turned, the car halted beside me, and I came face to face with the driver.

I began laughing.

Fate could just be ridiculous sometimes.

"Get in, you fool!" Loki shouted as I stood laughing, wasting time. I quickly opened the door to the backseat and barely had enough time to get inside before the car started moving. I was thrown into another passenger just as I had started to shut the door.

Hands attempted to push me off. "Get off!" An angry voice said. I quickly straightened and shut the door.

"Sorry," I apologized to the cross brunette sitting next to me. Darcy Lewis. She was new. We had found her last week, hiding out in an apartment building.

"Don't be sorry to just me; you made everyone in this car turn around!" Darcy snapped.

I sighed. "I'm assuming this is more of Loki's fault, right?"

"Hey, at least _somebody_ gives a shit about you," Tony Stark peered out from the passenger seat, looking withered and tired, but that was nothing new. "You should probably be more grateful."

"Hilarious." I said when Darcy started to laugh. I rolled my eyes. "You know if it wasn't for that idiot kid's driving I wouldn't have fallen out of the car."

"Go easy on Peter, he never got to go to driving school." Tony chided me.

"Neither did Loki, and so far he hasn't gotten anyone thrown out of a car." I mumbled.

"I'm not sure, but is anyone interested in the fact that we are being chased by a horde of undead?" Loki hissed, sounding annoyed.

"They're called zombies, get it right." Darcy snorted. I looked out the back window. The horde had just made it out of the woods, but they were too far away to get a good shot at.

I slid back into my seat. "It's alright, we've almost outran them." I assured Loki.

"You can't be too sure." He replied, still on edge.

He had reason to be, after all

I pushed those thoughts out of my mind. I could think about it later. Right now we all had to focus on getting out of here.

"We're going to that abandoned town, right?" I asked.

"That's the plan," Loki replied. I leaned forward, looking out the windshield. We were offroad, and I could see the highway not far off. Our other cars were nowhere to be found.

"Where's everyone else?" I asked. Surely they would have waited for us.

"Don't know," Tony shrugged. "We turned around and they were gone. I tried the radios, but I think their malfunctioning again."

"Great." I murmured. We turned onto the highway, and I caught a glimpse of the zombies in the distance. I could make out dozens of them, but it wasn't the largest horde I had ever seen.

I flopped back into my seat and let out a relieved sigh. They wouldn't catch up with us. Not for awhile, at least.

"Where the hell are we?" Darcy complained, looking at the map with tired eyes. The sun had long since gone down, and there had been no indications of a town, no other cars, and no word on the others; the only thing that came through on the radios was static. There were not even any signs on the road, which worried me.

"We must have gone the wrong way." Stark grumbled for what seemed to be the hundredth time.

I looked with concern at Loki, who seemed to be entirely focused on driving. He had been almost silent during our whole trip, only answering questions in short, muted sentences.

"Do you want me to drive?" I asked him.

"No." Loki replied quickly, his grip visibly tightening on the steering wheel.

"Are you sure—" I began.

"—Yes." He cut me off shortly. I went silent. I knew he must have been having a rough time. He needed my help, but he wasn't having it.

I smiled to myself. Loki never let anyone help, even if he was in dire need of it.

My smile faded as I felt a longingness stir within me. After being chased out of our home base, everything had quickly turned high-strung and more dangerous than ever before. Our numbers were dwindling; we had lost a lot of good people during the last month.

"What's that?" Stark took me out of my thoughts. I frowned and looked up, out the windshield. Up ahead were flickering lights, and I could make out buildings.

"Darcy, any idea where we are?" Stark asked.

There was the brief rummaging through papers. "This might be the place." Darcy replied. "Not positive, though."

As we got closer, I realized that the lights were small bonfires, and I was able to make out the shapes of people on the streets. The closer we drew, the more I began to get a bad feeling about this.

If this was the place, it wasn't very well sealed off at all. It was so out in the open that I was certain the zombies could eat this place up in minutes.

"Should I drive in?" Loki asked, slowing down the car until we were barely moving. It was evident that he didn't like this either.

"Go in, there's people there!" Darcy protested. "They probably have food!"

"Go through," Stark nodded. "If our groups not there then we'll just leave."

Loki was hesitant. "And if they don't want us to leave?"

"Well where else are we gonna go?" Stark shot back, irritated. "This is the place; go through."

I waited for Loki to argue, but all he did was speed up the car.

We passed several buildings, and that was when I knew we had made a mistake.

The buildings were nearly destroyed, with walls crumbling and shattered windows. Cars were crumpled and overturned, some of them stacked onto one another. The whole place seemed to have a sense of dread brewing.

"Look out!" Darcy shouted, making me jump. Loki slammed on the brakes, which sent me forward, nearly hitting my head on the front seat.

When I had regained myself I saw that a woman had ran in front of the car. She had several children by her side.

I took one look at them, then muttered, "We should go."

"What are they doing?" Darcy asked, oblivious.

Both the woman and the children had caved in, hollow faces. Their postures were slumped over, as if their bodies were so heavy they couldn't carry themselves. Their skin was peeling off in chunks, flesh hanging off their faces in a nightmarish fashion.

"Help us!" The woman cried, her voice not much more of a pained grunt.

"Shit, turn us around." Stark said as they began to come closer. Loki was silent at the wheel.

"Loki turn the fucking car around!" I shouted, not able to watch this without feeling sick to my stomach.

"There's more behind us." Loki said, sounding detached. I looked around. More people were walking over to us, all bearing the same symptoms as the woman and children. Sure enough, we were being surrounded.

"Oh God." Darcy gasped as she watched with wide, terrified eyes.

Dozens of people had crowded around the car, all of them crying out for us to help them. One of them slammed his fist against Darcy's side window. It cracked, but fortunately didn't shatter.

"Get us the hell out of here!" Stark shouted at Loki.

"I can't without running them over!" Loki shouted back.

The glass on Darcy's window shattered after another punch, and the muted cries of the people outside reached my ears clearly. There was so much sadness and anger in their voices.

"Loki, we have to leave, now!" I yelled. I couldn't take it. It was all just so terrible.

"Fine!" Loki snarled. The car shot forward, and the people's cries turned into screams. I felt their bodies being crushed underneath the car. Darcy was crying, her face buried in her hands.

I don't know how long it took us to get out of there; I went into a sort of blur.

It was a bit ridiculous on my part. I had seen worse things then that whole scene back there, I've seen so much terror and fear that I should be desensitized at this point.

But I wasn't. It always got me.

Finally, Loki stopped the car. I looked out the window. In the darkness I could make out trees, we were back on the highway. I let out a breath and shut my eyes.

It was over. But I could still hear them.

The sound of a door unlocking caught my ear. Before I could say anything Loki had gotten out of the car and slammed the door shut.

"Where the hell does he think he's going?" Stark growled. I tensed, debating on whether or not to go after Loki. He might have just wanted to be alone.

But I didn't have it in me to let him do that to himself. I unlocked my door and opened it.

"Where the hell do you think _you're_ going?" Stark demanded, looking at me with a confused expression. I ignored him and, stepping outside, shut the door.

I welcomed the fresh air, breathing it in deeply. It was slightly chilly, but not too bad. When my eyes grew accustomed to the inky darkness I saw Loki standing with his back turned, not far away from me. He was overlooking a chain link fence on the edge of the road. Beyond the fence, I realized, was nothing but a cliff.

I walked over, drawing up next to him. His face was expressionless, and his dull eyes were staring ahead of him.

I followed his gaze, and realized what it was he was looking at. Below us was the destroyed town we had just left. As I looked closer, by the light of the bonfires, I saw that the group that had surrounded us was slowly separating, and I made out several figures lying motionless on the ground.

And I wasn't sure if it was just my imagination, or if I really heard, in the distance, their cries and wails of grief.

"Loki, it's not your fault." I said gently, turning back towards him and attempting to lessen his guilt. "There was nothing any of us could have done—"

"—I know." Loki spoke, his eyes still gazing ahead, his voice bearing a tone of bitterness that I had only heard on rare occasions.

" _They're all dead_ ," Loki said. " _They just don't know it yet._ "

He looked back at me, his head tilted, as if he was waiting for me to say something. I saw tears forming in his eyes and that broke me.

Instead of saying anything, I pulled him in for an embrace, which he didn't hesitate in accepting. I pressed him tightly against me and ran my right hand through his hair. I could feel his heart pounding inside his chest.

One wouldn't consider, at first thought, that Loki would feel any remorse in killing. Most would even say he revelled in it.

But after what happened last year... after losing his brother...

Loki pushed away from me, inhaling shakily. He kept his eyes lowered to the ground, refusing to look at me.

"Hey!" A voice said. I looked over my shoulder and saw Stark, standing beside the car.

"That town we just left? It's a ticking time bomb. Those people are going to completely turn in a day or two and I don't want to be nearby when it happens, so we should probably get out of here." He explained.

I grimaced at the reality of the situation. "I'll be with you in a minute." I replied. Stark looked ready to protest, but to my relief he merely turned and got back inside the car.

I looked back at Loki. It was always so hard for the two of us to just get some time alone. But aside from that, I had the feeling that Loki needed me right now.

"Are you gonna be alright?" I asked. The instant the words were out of my mouth I wanted to take them back.

Of course Loki was in shambles. This had been the day it all started. This time last year we were hiding out in an office building, wondering whether or not we would live to see the sunrise through our own eyes.

Loki moved, walking behind me. I felt his arms wrap around me, the warmth of his body pressing against my back. I reached up and gripped one of his hand, stroking it. I felt his soft lips press against my cheek.

I shut my eyes, wanting to make this moment last as long as I possibly could.

"I'm sorry I'm such a wreck." Loki chuckled lowly as he leaned against my shoulder.

I felt a lump of regret swell up in my throat. I knew this day was coming. In a way, I was affected by it, but not in the way it had devastated Loki.

"Don't be sorry," I said. "It hurts. All of this hurts. Especially now."

Loki was silent for several moments, the only sound was his breath in my ear. But then he spoke, in a voice that was just above a whisper, and filled with oh, so much pain; "I miss him."

I was surprised at how fast jealousy kicked in after he said that, and I wanted to kick myself for feeling that way. Thor had been his brother. Of course Loki missed him.

"I know." It was a useless, limp acknowledgement that hung in the air, but I couldn't think of anything else to say.

We stood there for another minute, focusing on our breaths, on the warmth we shared. My touch-starved self wanted to stay right there with Loki, for a long time, just holding each other. But the other part of me knew it had to end.

Loki finally pulled away. I turned to look at him, and my heart sank when I saw his face was streaked with tears.

But he smiled as I reached out and wiped the tears off his face as best as I could. It was a small, sad smile. But it was there.

"We should go." Loki said. His grin widened a bit when he saw my distaste. He leaned closer to me, and before I could think, his lips pressed into mine.

He pulled away far too soon, and I was left longing for more. It was the fact that Loki held out his hand, waiting to go, that discouraged me from grabbing him and kissing every inch of skin I could find.

"Come on." Loki smiled knowingly. With a defeated sigh, I took his hand, lacing my prosthetic fingers with his slender ones. Together we started heading back towards the car.

I noticed with some contempt that Stark had his head stuck out the window of the driver's seat. The bastard had probably watched the whole thing.

"Are you two lovebirds going to wait until the zombies come to kill us?" Stark asked, sounding bored. "I'm driving, and Darcy's up front with me."

I nodded my thanks, and opened the backdoor. When Loki and I got in I shut the door and locked it. There was glass on the floor from where the right window had been broken.

The car started moving, going at a decent pace.

Loki didn't waste time in curling up beside me. I wrapped my right arm around him, pulling him closer, grateful that we could remain together for awhile longer.

We were lucky to be alive. After a year of dodging zombies, of conflict, and living in fear, Loki and I managed to pull through and make it. A lot of us hadn't been as lucky.

Looking back on when the outbreak started was like trying to recall a bad dream, at least for me. I could remember the basic elements clearly. But the whole thing had lost a lot of it's feeling. A lot of it's pain.

I knew I couldn't speak for everyone on that. Nearly all of us had lost someone close. But me, what did I lose? I lost being persecuted by organizations. I lost worrying about people attempting to control me, to use me like I had been used in the past, as a mindless killing machine. I lost my fears.

Only to gain a terrifying, awful new fear. After seeing so many others lose people, I was afraid of losing the one I loved.

Loki shifted in my arms, so that his head was leaning on my left shoulder.

When we lost the base I was plagued with more worry then ever of losing him. It was just so easy to die out here, or worse.

My eyes fluttered shut at that morbid thought. The very notion of living without him gnawed at me. I pushed the thought away.

I lightly kissed the top of Loki's head, moving my arm so I could hold him tighter.

At some point, I fell asleep while listening to the sound of the car speeding through the highway.

* * *

I shivered as a cold gust of wind pierced the air. Stark had pulled into a forest after driving for several hours. Now I was sitting on the trunk of the car, on watch duty. In my hand was my machine gun, since the only other weapons we had were a couple of pistols and a machete, the latter of which reserved for Loki.

I heard the front door open, and I looked over my shoulder. I knew it was too soon for me to be relieved as I had only been on duty for an hour or so.

Stark shut the door gently behind him and approached me, a wool blanket in his hands.

"Figured you would need this." He explained as he handed me the blanket.

"Thanks." I said as I took it and wrapped it around myself. I looked back towards the surrounding trees, which looked foreboding, as if they were concealing something I wasn't supposed to see.

"You know he doesn't really love you." Stark said. I turned back at him, stunned with silence. His statement was so out of the blue that I did not know how to respond to it.

"Well, he sort of does," Stark followed up, looking rather guilty. "He loves you because you're a replacement for Thor."

A heated, boiling anger entered me. Stark had always had a big problem with Loki. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" I said quietly, trying to swallow down my emotions.

"I mean, you remind the guy of ol' Pointbreak. Look, it's not that complicated," Stark said, making gestures with his hands. I got off the car, gritting my teeth. "Loki's obviously got a shitload of mental issues, and having to shoot his own brother must have sent him over the edge. So he turns to you, what, a month after this all started?"

I shook my head in disbelief. It just couldn't be true.

"And he decided he could repress his loss of Thor by replacing him with you." Stark said.

"No." I growled, taking a step towards him. "You're wrong."

"I'm right; and you know it!" Stark backed up, pointing a finger at me. "You've got the traits; you love him, you're protective of him, and because of that, you are naive, which was a defining characteristic of you-know-who. Loki just stays with you because you're filling an empty void."

"Shut up, Stark—" I spat. I couldn't listen to this.

"—And once you come to your senses and leave him, he'll just go and find another man who can give him the same things!"

I glared at Stark, wanting nothing more than to snap him in half. But his words had awakened a worrying feeling within me. I almost felt guilty for hearing them.

"I'm telling you this because I'm sick and tired of seeing him take advantage of you," Stark said quietly. "You're a good man, James, but hell; you're such a Goddamn idiot."

The next thing I knew was my fist connecting with Stark's jaw. I hadn't been planning on punching him, but his words had struck me like knives, and I simply could not take it.

Stark nearly fell to the ground, but he managed to recover himself. He stood, holding his jaw, looking at me with a wide-eyed expression.

Then he shook his head, and started heading back to the car.

"You're wrong, you know." I murmured, just loud enough so he could hear.

"No, I'm not. And the sooner you can accept that, the sooner you can stop being held captive by Loki's issues." Stark spat. Then he got into the car, shutting the door behind him.

I breathed heavily and sat back on the trunk of the car, shutting my eyes.

I shook my head in denial. I wasn't Thor's replacement. Surely Loki wouldn't think that. Surely that wasn't all I was to Loki.

But in a deep corner of my mind, I knew it wasn't completely impossible for that to be true.

My eye shot open, my fists clenched.

No. I couldn't believe that.

It wasn't true.

It _couldn't_ be.

* * *

"Bucky wake up."

There was a hard push on my shoulder. I forced my eyes to open, only to squint as bright sunlight flooded my vision. I became aware of a crackling, static sound, followed by voices, but I was too tired and groggy to make out what they were saying.

"Where are you guys?" A voice—Stark's—cut through the confusion.

I forced myself up, groaning at my sluggish body. I had had two watches last night, both of them lasting for several hours. When I was off I barely slept, kept awake by terrible thoughts.

"Alright, don't go off course, we should be able to catch up with you in a couple hours then." Stark said. I realized what had happened. Our radio must have started working again; we must have made contact with the rest of our group.

"What did they say?" I asked, opening my eyes a bit, trying to get used to the light.

"They're in an abandoned town not too far away." I heard Loki say on my right. "They didn't know we had got left behind until late yesterday."

Stark was in the driver's seat, looking at Darcy, who in turn was studying a map. She hadn't had watch last night. None of us had it in us to make her go out. She hadn't been on the fields until recently, and, she was really just a kid.

"You got the directions down?" Stark was saying.

"I think so." Darcy replied.

"Alright, then we'd better get going." Stark started up the car. "We're out of water, so everyone keep your eyes peeled for any place we can loot."

We started heading back for the highway. I leaned back and sighed. I felt horrible, and at the mention of no water, I became thirsty.

"You look well-rested." Loki said to me.

"Very funny." I replied grumpily. "Sorry we can't all survive on as little sleep as you can."

Loki laughed, and I couldn't help but crack a smile. But my smile faded when I again recalled Stark's words.

A replacement.

Was that really all I was to Loki?

"What are you thinking about?" Loki cut into my thoughts. I looked at him, fearing irrationally that he knew I was contemplating his love for me. But he seemed to just be curious, and I took in his features. His long black hair was a tousled mess, his smile was genuine and not laced with any mischief or mockery. The tattered, stained clothes he was wearing did little to mar his elegance, all it did was cover his pale skin which begged to be caressed.

I wanted to tell him everything, wanted to plead for him to tell me Stark's words were not true. It sickened me down to the very core that I needed assurance.

Instead, my meager reply to his question was; "Water."

Loki's smile remained, but his eyes lowered, and from that gesture I knew he was hiding something.

"You alright?" I asked. Loki nodded quickly, his eyes darting back up to me.

"Yes, just a bit tired, that's all." He attempted to assure me. But I saw through it. I was sure that something was bothering him.

Or had my eyes just opened, now, that Loki didn't like me all that much.

I clenched my jaw at the thought, cursing myself in my mind.

"I thought gods never got tired." I said jokingly, even though I felt no humour.

"Could we stop?" Darcy spoke suddenly. At first I thought the question was addressed to me, but Stark answered;

"Why?" He huffed.

"I have to... go…" Darcy replied. She sounded embarrassed. I sighed. At this rate we would never make it to the others.

"Oh for God's sake." Stark stopped the car. "Make it quick, and take this," he added, holding out a pistol. Darcy took it with some hesitation.

"You never know," Stark shrugged. "Don't go too far."

Darcy opened the door and stepped out of the car, disappearing into the forest.

I glanced longingly out the window. It was days light these that I remembered how the world used to be, before all of this happened. The sun was shining, it's warmth seeping through into the car. Even the air seemed to bear a feeling of peace.

I knew it was all but an illusion. Today was no safer than any other day.

"Come _on,_ " Stark growled impatiently to himself when a few minutes had gone by. "How long does it take?"

I opened my mouth to laugh, when the sound of several gunshots filled the air, followed by a high-pitched scream that was unmistakably Darcy's

"Oh shit," I grunted, bending to retrieve my machine gun. That's when I heard the distinct sound of a zombie attack cry. I straightened, just in time to see zombies start to run out of the woods.

"Fuck!" Stark shouted, slamming on the gas pedal. The car leapt up to speed, throwing me back against my seat.

I heard the sounds of the zombies behind us, and I stole a look over my shoulder to see how close they were.

My eyes beheld a sight of terror. Two zombies had jumped onto our trunk, inching closer on their stomachs. Behind them was a large horde of zombies; there had to have been at least fifty of them.

The zombies on the trunk screamed when they saw me, and one of them slammed a hand against the window. I caught a glimpse of it's rotting, infected hand before I aimed my gun and pulled the trigger, sending an explosion of glass everywhere.

I easily took out the two on the car, then I quickly looked back to see how everyone else was doing; Loki had his head out the window, his machete firmly held in his hand, while Stark was muttering swears while frantically looking into the rearview mirror.

I turned back to the completely broken back window and stuck my gun over the edge, aiming at the rapidly approaching zombies.

I fired, swinging my gun from left to right, not lingering in one area for too long. Most zombies usually took a few shots to take out; but it wasn't an exact science. What was different about these zombies was that they were the fastest I had ever seen; they were gaining on us at frightening speed.

I had just run out of bullets and started to reload when Loki started climbing out of the back window, kneeling onto the trunk.

"What are you doing?" I demanded, pausing from reloading. He didn't answer as he extended his free hand. As I watched, a green beam of magic encircled his wrist, and what I could only describe as a green laser shot out of his palm.

I snorted at myself, Loki would laugh if he knew how I described his powers. In the past, he had tried to educate me on it, but I always felt it was out of my reach.

I finished reloading and began firing again. The closest zombies drew closer until they were inches away from the car. At this point Loki was differentiating between using his magic and outright hacking at the zombies with his machete.

The zombies drew even closer, surrounding the car.

I had just finished loading my third and last round when I heard Stark call; "I could use some help!"

I turned and saw that several zombies were climbing through the passenger entrance; the door had since been ripped off. I quickly fired at them, narrowly avoiding Stark in the process. I realized there were more trying to come in, so I climbed up front, getting glass all over me as I slid into the passenger seat. I fired at the zombies trying to get in.

I heard a crash from behind me, and started to turn to see what it was. But I was interrupted by a loud shriek, and before I could fire again a zombie had leapt into the car, landing on top of me, knocking me over. I dropped my gun in my surprise.

The thing smelled so rancid I felt sick. Its breaths were fast and wet. Its face was the worst part; the skin had turned a gray color with a green tint, its eyes were a glowing, emerald green. Skin had been torn from around the mouth, exposing its rotting yellow teeth.

I struggled with it, and for a moment I thought I wasn't going to make it. But then I punched right through its soft skull with my left fist, and threw it off of me.

When I sat up everything was disorientated, I felt lightheaded. I could hear shouts, but I could not make out the words. As I looked around I realized more zombies had entered the car through the windows; which must have been the crash I had heard. I saw my gun lying on the floor of the car, and I went to grab it, but the next thing I knew was falling forward and crashing through the windshield.

I fell through the air, and as I did I looked and saw that the car was falling as well.

There was a loud smash, and then I hit the ground, so hard I almost blacked out. Everything in my body felt smashed and ruined, and for a second I wondered if I was dead.

But then my limbs finally responded to my will, and I managed to get up, biting my lips at the pain that shot through my body.

Then I saw what had happened.

"What the fuck?!" I shouted, my jaw slack in shock. Our car was barely recognizable; it looked more like a crushed piece of metal than anything else. Stark had driven us right off a cliff, and from the looks of it, it seemed so high that even the mindless zombies wouldn't be stupid enough to run off it. It was surprising enough that I even survived it.

My thoughts were brought to a screeching halt as realization crossed over me. Was I the only survivor?

There came a groan from behind the car, as if to answer my question. A zombie staggered out, growling when it saw me.

I looked around for some sort of weapon, and the zombie started running straight for me. But it halted with a scream, and I glimpsed a blade sticking out of its head before it fell over. I saw Loki, standing a few feet away.

Relief washed over me. Loki started walking over, bending to retrieve his machete which was embedded in the motionless zombie.

We stood in silence for a long moment, I glanced around at our surroundings. Nothing but woods lay all around us, with no road in sight.

We were lost.

Then Loki spoke; "I guess the moral of this is don't go into the woods to relieve yourself."

I didn't want to laugh, I really didn't. But the way Loki had said it made me burst out.

"Oh God, Darcy, the poor kid." I shook my head. "You don't think she might've made it, do you?"

Loki frowned, "I'm afraid it doesn't seem likely."

I sighed. Before I could say anything else, there was a shuffling noise coming from inside the car.

"Is Stark—?" I began, hesitant to finish what I was about to say.

"I'm not sure." Loki shrugged. Holding his machete out, he began walking towards the car. I followed slowly behind.

From what was once the window of the car came Stark, rolling onto the ground and moaning.

We both paused in our tracks. I looked uncertainly at him, hoping he hadn't been turned. He seemed to look alright, besides his head having a deep gashing wound.

"Are you guys just going to stare at me?" Stark grunted at us.

"Are you clean?" Loki returned the question. Stark scrunched up his face. "I'm pretty sure."

"How did you even survive the crash?" I asked, as he started struggling to get to his feet.

"Seatbelts save lives." Stark replied as he dusted himself off. "I think I might have broken something though." He added, crossing his arms over himself and wincing.

"Why the hell did you drive us off a cliff? You scared me back there; I thought it was going to be the end." I said sternly.

"Yeah, well, I couldn't really think properly with those things getting into the car," Stark retorted. "And hey, I might have just saved us after all, because I'm not seeing any zombies chasing us anymore."

We all started laughing. It was worried, crazed laughter; we were laughing at our fate, at our chances in survival.

I saw Stark turn white, and he held a pistol out towards me. My eyes widened.

"Stark, what the hell!?" I shouted, holding out both hands and stepping away. I was blank on why he would do this.

"Put it down!" Loki shouted, holding his machete towards Stark.

"What do you think you're—" I started to shout, but I was cut off by words that no one wanted to hear:

"You're bit."

I felt my blood turn cold. I touched my neck, the place Stark was looking nervously at, and I felt something wet. I brought my hand up to my eyes, and saw it was covered in black liquid.

I hadn't even noticed.

Loki was shaking his head frantically, repeating the word 'no' over and over again. I looked back at Stark, trying in vain to find some way to fix this even though we all knew it was impossible.

"Stark," Loki practically begged, his voice shaky and weak. Stark didn't acknowledge Loki, he was staring at me with guilty eyes.

"I'm sorry, Buck." He said. My heart slammed in my chest, I couldn't move. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but nothing came out. I was paralyzed by shock and fear.

Loki ran towards Stark with inhuman speed, crashing directly into him. I heard the gun go off several times, and an agonized scream escaped Loki. For a painful second I forgot he was immune to bullets, and I thought he had been shot.

But then I watched him pull away from Stark, and I noticed the dullness in Stark's face. I saw the hilt of Loki's machete sticking out of his stomach.

Stark fell limply to the ground.

"You stabbed Stark." I said. It was a stupid thing to say, but my mind was in such a jumbled mess that I couldn't help it. I felt weaker than ever. There was a pain in my abdomen, and I realized I had been shot. It began to get very hard to breathe; I was having to practically gasp in air.

Loki started walking towards me.

"No!" I panicked, backing away from him. The last thing I wanted to do was get him infected. As I was backing up I stumbled, and I found I did not have the strength to prevent the fall that followed. I laid on my side, trying to breathe.

Loki was hurrying over to my side. I held out a hand, "Don't get close." I gasped.

Loki knelt down beside me, his eyes brimming with tears.

I felt an overwhelming surge of exhaustion. I fought to keep my eyes open. These were likely to be my last few minutes; I had to make them count. The realization of what was happening tore through me, and made me feel exposed; I was dying.

I was going to die.

After I had made it so far...

I must have dozed off, because the next thing I knew was Loki calling my name.

"Bucky?" He said. "Bucky, please don't—"

"—I'm still here." I assured him. Loki let out a breath, a tear sliding down his cheek.

"Maybe…" Loki began. "Maybe I can heal you…"

The exhaustion was snapped away as a last burst of adrenaline took over, "No—!"

"—I could try magic, maybe—"

"—Loki no!" I shouted as he tried to touch me. "There is no way to fix this!"

"There must be something—" Loki began, but I didn't want to hear it. I didn't want reassurance. I didn't want false hope.

"There is _nothing_ you can do, and you of all people know that!" I shouted. Tears were pouring out of Loki's eyes, and I regretted my words, even though they were true.

I was scared. I wasn't ready.

"Do you remember," I began. I wanted to take my mind off of this, just for a moment. "Do you remember how we first met?"

Loki sniffed and rubbed his eyes. "How could I forget," He said. "You crashed the helicopter."

I smiled a little. Typical of me. "And then you slapped me in the face and told me that if the zombies didn't kill me, you would."

Loki laughed while wiping at his tears. As I looked at him, I realized that, out of all the things in this world, out of all the people I've met, he was going to be the one I missed most when I was gone.

"Loki, I want you to know that I love you," I said. I had told him it thousands of times, and I never tired of it.

Loki shook his head, a never-ending stream of tears pouring out of his eyes. "Don't do this."

A small sob escaping him. "Maybe I should get infected." Loki choked out. "Then we can go out together."

My eyes widened, in disbelief at Loki. "No!" I yelped, my eyes widening. "Loki, Loki listen to me."

He looked up, his face filled with more sadness than I had ever seen on him.

"I don't want you to do that," I said. "You're stronger than that. You need to live, to keep on fighting."

"I don't want to fight anymore. Not alone." Loki shook his head, his eyes fluttering shut. His head dropped, and he made little attempt to hide his sobs. "Bucky, I can't live without you."

There was so much pain and grief in those few words, it clawed at my heart.

"You won't be alone." I said. I hesitated on my next choice of words. They were ridiculous, and I had heard them far too many times. But in the end, I decided to say them; "I'll be with you," I pointed to my heart with a wry smile. "In here."

Loki's sobbing had almost cleared up, but his tears didn't, and his breathing was shaky. He reached out to touch my face, and I didn't stop him, half because I was too weak to do so.

"You'll do what you have to... when I…" I trailed off as Loki shut his eyes, not wanting to hear it. "...You know…"

"I will try to." Loki said.

"You have to promise," I said firmly. Loki opened his eyes, and leaned over me, kissing my forehead.

I let out a breath, reveling in the last time I would feel Loki's touch.

Loki drew back, gently wiping away tears that I hadn't even noticed I was crying.

Then he nodded. "I promise."

The pain that had been racking my body seemed to melt away, replaced with a comfortable warmth. My breathing became easier as well. I knew it was nearly time.

I was afraid, not for myself anymore, but for Loki. Once I was gone he was going to be alone here. Lost. With nowhere to go. And no one to hold him when he cried.

"I wish we had more time." I grunted, allowing more tears to spill out of my eyes.

Loki took my hand, holding it tight in his. "I love you Bucky." He said. "I'll keep you, in here." He added, placing his free hand over his heart. I smiled through my tears. He smiled as well.

Everything seemed to be slowly fading to white. My breaths seemed to get slower.

I wanted to call out to Loki, to tell him I loved him one last time. But I couldn't get anything out.

I didn't fight it. I chose instead instead to use the last of my energy to keep my tired eyes open. I looked fondly at my lover, my _Loki._

Until at last, everything faded to white.


End file.
